After Ilha do Pessegueiro came Praia das Furnes, a lesser-known beach with few tourists and reportedly many nudists.
We wanted to summon up all the courage to take a dip in the ocean, but we knew it would be very cold. We were hoping that the water here would be shallow enough to warm up somewhat, but it wasn’t…
After yelling and drying, we headed inland and went to Pego das Pias for a walk of four and a half kilometres through the forest.
We are in the middle of nowhere; you have to stand aside in front of a bridge on a winding highway, and find the access road. You can walk past a stream and to a small lake, in the middle of which you can swim around a large piece of rock. The air is great, it’s quiet and there’s a lot of ferns.
There are plenty of cork oaks in the south of the country, and here you can take a closer look at them peeling off their bark to make cork plugs. In ancient times, its bark was tied to fishing nets for floating, and it was also used to make a lifeline.
It is an iconic tree deeply rooted in the cultural and economic life of Portugal; the harvested cork has become synonymous with Portugal’s handicrafts and heritage, making Portugal a leading exporter.
Next, we are going to visit a lighthouse that was probably built in a wrong way…
